ATC Monster Mash Concept List

[FTGTEvan]

Hi All! Headed to ATC next month, and lists are due this weekend. I have been debating between a BA / Knights list I ran this past weekend and a Monster Tyranid list I've been kicking around. To note, ATC is using ITC missions (1, 3, and 6 - each played twice). This list is all Kraken, two battalions and a Spearhead - C&C Welcome!

Battalion 1:
Swarmlord
Malanthrope
Old One Eye
3x 3 Rippers

Battalion 2:
3x Flyrant: Wings, 2 Devourers, MRC, Toxin, Adrenal Glands
3 Rippers
2x 10 Termagants
Deathleaper

Spearhead:
Broodlord
3x Carnifex: 2 Devourers, Scything Talons, Adrenal, Spore Cysts, Bone Mace, Enhanced Senses or Tusks

[remington]

Looks fun. Tell us how did you do.

[FTGTEvan]

Ok, with ATC over I can report back. Overall, I did not do as well as I had hoped, going 2-4 personally. As a team we were 1-3-2, which is also not as good as we'd hoped, matching our loss total from the previous two years.

As a team, our lists were Necrons, my Monster Nids, Dreadnought Wolves, Horde Orks, GSC. We came in with a pairing concept where we would throw the Necrons list first, then pair their defender against either two horde lists or the two T7 heavy lists. After going 0-1-1 day 1, we decided to switch it up round 3 and toss me out first instead. As such, I was often eating a gunline no one else wanted.

Quick roundup:

Round 1: GSC w/3 Vultures
We were on Spearhead deployment, and my opponent went first. My gameplan was to castle with all of my characters, flyrants in front, and eat the ambushes from the Abberants and Acolytes. I then immediately forgot my plan and took the bait of his Vultures, which flew upfield, and threw two flyrants into them. This then devolved into a scrum midfield, where I twice threw away my carnifexes by multicharging with them and tyrants into abberants or acolytes.

Final Score: 29-25 Nid loss (-4 differential) - Team Draw

Round 2: Deathwatch, Blood Angels, and Catachans
In this round I was matched up against Alan and his Deathwatch heavy list. We had played a month ago when I was running Blood Angel armor, and in pairings I was confident in the matchup, as his list is mostly anti-infantry and struggles versus high toughness, forgetting that was only true for vehicles. Whoops. Alan went first and killed a Tyrant for a Smash Captain. The game quickly became a scrum in the middle again, with Tyrants winning out thanks to some largely abysmal stormshield saves on the Deathwatch.

Final Score: 32-27 Nid victory (+5 differential, +1 overall) - Team Loss

Round 3: AdMech
This was the first round where we threw me out first, and I took the shooting heavy AdMech list for the team. We got Dawn of War deployment and I ended up seizing. My opponent Scout moved his Dragoons to try to screen his robots, but I was able to break through and wipe out the Dragoons with OOE and a Flyrant, and touch the Robots. It was pretty much all downhill from there for him and I tabled him on the top of turn 4, with the Robots never shooting outside of Overwatch.

Final Score: 37-7 Nid victory (+30 differential, +31 overall) - Team Win

Round 4: Catachans (Emperor's Wrath and Emperor's Fist) + BA
This round I took another shooty list. We got dawn of war again. My opponent deployed his Wyverns and Basilisk on my right, with his 3 tank commanders across the middle to left. I deployed castled to the left with my characters and carnifexes behind a wall on the right. He got first turn and sacrificed a Smash Captain for a Flyrant, and gunned down another flyrant he could just see over the wall (cursed wings). Already feeling in a hole I managed to claw back for several turns before a run of good luck on shots took down all of my remaining big hitters turn 4 (My guard opponents in my last two events have had a remarkable ability to hit with nearly all their 4+ shots, and get 10+ shots on random number of shots every time).

Final Score: 25-32 Nid loss (-7 differential, +24 overall) - Team Loss

Round 5: AdMech with 3 Icarus Dunecrawlers, 19 Priests, and 4 Ballistarii
I got to pick the table in this match and chose one with some pretty nice walls. Then I rolled the deployment and got hammer and anvil... and all the walls were angled more for dawn of war... and then I went second. The tale practically writes itself. Even so, this list doesn't die easy and I managed to keep it from becoming a total blowout, even with only a handful of models.

Final Score: 21-30 (-9 differential, +15 overall) - Team Loss

Round 6: Iron Hands - 3 Venerable Dreads, 3 Predators, 4 Assault Cannon Razorbacks
We got Search and Destroy deployment, which wasn't ideal, and my opponent got first turn. He gunned down all three carnifexes turn 1. In my turns I managed to tag some of the tanks, but eventually couldn't tag enough of them, and ran out of Tyrants. Had a couple moments where the game could have turned in my favor, but either didn't make the roll, or didn't capitalize enough.

Final Score: 23-28 (-5 differential, +10 overall) - Team Draw

[pokesers]

I find it an interesting choice to run Devs with scytals on the fexes. What was the reasoning behind doing this over pure dakka?

[FTGTEvan]

Jul 17, 2019 22:50:23 GMT pokesers said:

I find it an interesting choice to run Devs with scytals on the fexes. What was the reasoning behind doing this over pure dakka?

This was my first time running in this configuration. Namely, it makes them more flexible, and keeps them effective while moving up and bodyguarding OOE.

Focusing on them, quick rundown on how they did:

1. Rd 1: I largely threw them away, multi-charging into Acolytes / Abberrants. Had they been dakka only I probably would have played them better (having experience running them that way).
2. Rd 2: They put in work on the Deathwatch squads and alleviated pressure on my Character blob, holding my right flank for a couple turns. Without their combat threat they would have been much less impactful, getting bad touched in addition to absorbing shooting.
3. Rd 3: They didn't do much, but that was mostly down to a Flyrant and OOE getting into the AdMech lines top of 1 and wrecking their way through. This was so one sided they didn't have time to close.
4. Rd 4: They worked pretty well as independent operatives, holding the right flank for a few turns. One nearly killed off a Smash Captain (and survived, walking away and then eating a couple guard squads with a wound or two left). Being able to effectively deal damage in shooting and combat was awesome, and falling out of combat and then hitting new units in assault was great.
5. One survived long enough to reach the lines and do some damage, but mostly they just ate lascannons for two turns.
6. They all died top of 1.

[pokesers]

Sounds interesting. Did you end up taking enhanced senses or tusks in the end? Enhanced senses seem like wasted points on a hybrid and since you have 1 less attack that dual scytals the tusks will help keep relevant in combat.

[FTGTEvan]

I actually stuck with Enhanced Senses. With 18" range they somewhat frequently needed to advance turn 1 to get any worthwhile target in range. In that case, hitting on 4s is better than 5s in that case. They seemed relevant enough in combat with the 4 attacks + tail.

[hungryone]

Cool list! But why did you picked also the Swarmlord? Did you used him for moving more one of your unit?